Maggie Young is your typical small-town American teenager. In high school with friends, popularity by association and wonderful, loving parents.

But she’s bored. She doesn’t want normal.

“Hello, my name is Maggie Young. Seventeen year old self-confessed choc-o-holic and over all fabulous human being. Pleased to meet you.”

Enter, with a bang, Clayton Reed. *swoon* Attitude, check. Gorgeous eyes, check. Hot bod, double check! He is your typical brooding young man. A transplant from Florida to a new high school with a new start for the troubled teen with a crazy past.

He’s bored. He craves normal.

“Clayton Reed, though you can call me Clay. Seventeen year old senior and unabashed misanthrope.”

Clay and Mags formed a fast friendship despite their overwhelming differences. Maggie doesn’t understand Clay’s mental health problems but is stubborn enough to not be going anywhere. As a reader you felt invested in their relationship. You knew Clay also needed more help than Maggie could offer or provide but damn it if you weren’t rooting for her all the way through!

Maggie was creating spaces between her and her friends and family but that space was taken completely up with Clayton. She saw sides of him that no one else saw. She saw the good, the bad and the downright dark. Still she stayed and moved closer to him and he let her.

“…if he went into the dark again, this time I would be there to find him – to follow him. Because I thought, perhaps quite immaturely, that my love could help him. Maybe our love could do even more that just help – maybe it could heal him. Fix him. Fix everything.”

My heart broke reading through their story together – you knew the ending couldn’t be good, you knew it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and flowers. Or butterflies in their case. His dependency on Maggie and the fact that he kept coming off of his medication meant for some serious mania and cutting. It was almost painful to turn the page to see what would happen next.

But, of course, I couldn’t help but keep turning the page. I am a sucker for the HEA and wantedneeded it for Clayton and Maggie. A Meredith Walters does a fantastic job of keeping the reader hooked and wanting the best for all characters in the book – even Danny and Rach, Maggie’s two almost overbearing best friends.

So, the ending? Yes it was brutal. My heart broke for Clayton, I cried for Maggie. I bawled for Maggie AND Clayton and I yearn for more. I am a glutton for punishment but I need their happy ending. I need to know that life isn’t all dark.

“Thank you for loving me in spite of me.”

CLAYTON, I’m coming for you! Light In The Shadows, here I come!

Jo’s Rating –
4 out of 5

~Jo~ xxx

Francesca’s Review –

I never read the synopsis to this book I jumped straight in the deep end and what a journey it has taken me on.

Maggie Young, your all American teenager who feels her life is stuck in a rut .

“My life had been typical and uneventful.”

“What I was, was in a very deep, crater-sized rut.”

Until that moment she literally walks in to the gorgeous Clay and looks up…

“…finally looking up into the most amazing pair of brown eyes that I have ever seen.”

“…I was in the middle of a Disney moment. Because this guy was gorgeous.”

That ‘Disney’ moment is short lived when Clay’s mental health issues start creating problems for him and Maggie. She doesn’t fully understand his mental health problems but she stands by her man.

“I don’t want perfect, Clay. I want you”

I really felt I went through the motions with both Clay and Maggie, especially when he would stop his medication and the mania would kick in.

I found myself going through an emotional rollercoaster. When Clay was being unreasonable I wanted to shout at him, I wanted to cry because of the suffering he’s experiencing. I just wanted to make everything better for him. Because he just wanted to be ‘normal’

“I just wanted to be normal.”

As Jo has mentioned you know that their journey will not end well but you can’t help but hope the outcome is going to be a happily ever after.

I feel A. Meredith Walters wrote this book beautifully touching on such delicate subjects and portraying them in a way that you sympathize with both Maggie and Clay. I was definitely hooked on this book, and I too wanted the best outcome for all the other characters.

I look forward to finding out if Maggie and Clay get their happily ever after and find their way out of the dark…together!